Tuesday, March 30, 2010

What's up, Doc?

Yesterday was Carter's 15 month check up. Yeah, he's 16+ months old, lol. It's a long story, but a small mistake on mine and their part. No matter. He got in, that's all that counts.

We showed up 30 minutes early by accident. I was expecting to have to wait, but we got in before I'd finished his paperwork {circle "Yes" or "No" if your child can _____}. The nurse weighed and measured Carter. He's in the 75% for height and weight, by the way. To do this, you have to strip down your child... which instantly put Carter in a good mood. He loves to be naked {or practically that way}. So after she left our room, he danced and spun in circles and yelled as loud as he possibly could in apparent delight at his diaper and socks outfit.

Dr. Katz came in and, though Carter ran over to me and jumped into my lap, Dr. K got a smile when he started talking to Carter. If you haven't met Carter, you don't realize how huge that is. He dislikes strangers... and people we know. He glares at everyone except his immediate family and Popaw. But he was in such a good mood and Dr. Katz is that awesome. :) I love our pediatrician. We talked about potty training and development. Dr. Katz was telling me how benefiticial it was for me to be at home with Carter. He said the children who have a stay-at-home parent or a one-on-one caregiver excel at mental and physical developmental. Which he then proved it by looking at his paperwork and testing his development and telling me he'd put his development at around 20 months instead of 16 months. That made me feel better about being here {home}. I feel guilty sometimes that I'm not bringing in any income at the moment. The loss of literally half our income is something we felt, for sure! But I can't tell you how awesome it is to be here with Carter all day playing and singing and learning and to be able to pick Trenton up from school everyday.

Anyway, C man had to get 2 shots. He was in a great mood until the nurses came in to give him his dual injections. He was PISSED. I picked him up afterward and held him while he sniffled and glared. He stopped crying almost immediately, but he was still visibly angry. One of the nurses came back in with a small airplane toy for him. As soon as she bent over to hand it to him, he took it and immeidately threw it back at her, hitting her in the eye.

Yikes!

The worst part is I laughed. Because it was funny. I followed my outburst with an, "I'm so sorry!", but I'm pretty sure I was still smiling. He just sat there glaring at her. As soon as she left, his good spirits were back and we ran errands and he smiled and talked to strangers.

Anyway, the gist of the appointment was this:

Discipline~

Time Outs! Holding Carter in time out {if he won't sit there and stay} for 20 seconds is necessary.

Everyone has to be on the same page {parents, grandparents, sitters}.

Talk him through the process. Warning him, telling him what he's doing wrong, giving him permission to leave time out, then explaining again what he did wrong.

Potty Training~

It's still early for him. Girls apparently do this sooner than boys.

Let him follow us into the bathroom {which, I'll admit, seems a little weird}.

Everybody sits! It will confuse him to see a male standing to potty and a female sitting. He will sit initailly so he needs to think everyone sits. Which means when he follows daddy into the potty, daddy has to sit.

Let him sit on a toddler potty, but don't expect anything. Observation is most important right now. It's still early.

When I think about potty training, I always think of Look Who's Talking and the scary toilet in that movie, lol.

1 comment:

That's how we trained Abbey.We just took her to the bathroom, as though it were something fun and exciting. She loved it, would sit down on her potty beside me and just CHAT!

My sister had a boy - I have no experience with boys, and they did something similar at first... and then to make a game of it, put a cheerio in the potty and he got to aim at the cheerio every time he went. That worked rather well too.

And. I think it's amazing that you're able to have this time with him.With your first you had so much stress and crap with your ex - then having to handle everything by yourself, this is really a blessing in disguise.Don't feel useless or like you're not contributing - you're in the section of women superpowered people... those who work their ASS off.It takes a special ability. You have it. Be proud of yourself.

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Trenton

My Rockstar. The most personable, outgoing, sweet and energetic little boy you'll ever meet. 8 years old and the most creative child I've met. He loves to draw and has an imagination that you wouldn't belive. Charisma is as natural as breathing to him and he is SO smart! I am constantly complimented about his behavior and manners. People go out of their way to tell me how polite he is. He's got some issues being quiet long enough to listen... but with all the ideas and stories that smart creativity gives him, it's easy to see why. T is the child that makes other people want to have children.

Carter

Scott's clone. He's energy and rebellion. He loves to make as much noise as possible... unless someone he doesn't know well is around. Then he's a bit shy. But he's getting more outgoing as the days go by. He requests "cake" almost daily, can drink a capri sun in less than a minute, and is a daredevil. He's resillent and a little crazy. :) He love cars,trains, planes, boats, etc. and can throw a ball like a major league pitcher. He doesn't sit still very long, but he's a sweet little nugget. I love my baby C! Little monkey man.